Stocks rise after Dar rejects debt restructuring

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KARACHI: The KSE-100 index traded in the positive zone on Monday, thanks to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s statement that Pakistan won’t seek debt restructuring from the Paris Club and fulfil all multilateral, international and bond payments, said Topline Securities.

Another reason for the index to open in the green and stay positive for the most part of the trading session was the analysts’ expectation of a rate cut in the monetary policy that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) announced later in the day, according to Arif Habib Ltd.

Insight Securities quoted the SBP governor as saying that the central bank hadn’t intervened in the foreign exchange market to support the rupee and that the recent appreciation in the local currency against the dollar was largely due to the improvement in overall sentiments.

As a result, the KSE-100 index settled at 42,211.64 points, up 126.39 points or 0.3 per cent from the preceding session.

The trading volume decreased 23.3pc to 240.2 million shares while the traded value went up 12.8pc to $48.3m on a day-on-day basis.

Stocks contributing significantly to the traded volume included WorldCall Telecom Ltd (31.15m shares), Pak Elektron Ltd (27.14m shares), TRG Pakistan Ltd (16.74m shares), Unity Foods Ltd (12.65m shares) and Lotte Chemical Pakistan Ltd (11.57m shares).

Sectors that contributed to the index performance were technology (92.4 points), cement (36.2 points), exploration and production (23.9 points), chemical (16.9 points) and cable and electrical goods (13.2 points).

Companies registering the biggest increase in their share prices in absolute terms were Unilever Pakistan Foods Ltd (Rs449.50), Nestle Pakistan Ltd (Rs100), Rafhan Maize Products Company Ltd (Rs40), Reliance Cotton Spinning Mills Ltd (Rs36.49) and Philip Morris Pakistan Ltd (Rs35.84).

Shares that declined the most in rupee terms were Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd (Rs40.01), Gatron Industries Ltd (Rs30.50), Shield Corporation Ltd (Rs8.69), Tri-Pack Films Ltd (Rs8) and Shahtaj Textile Ltd (Rs5.96).

Foreign investors remained net buyers as they purchased shares worth $7.12m.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2022

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